4.1.17

Step By Step Guide For A Minister To Respond And Take A Proactive Approach

Post New Years Eve comments from ministers

Karanataka Home Minister, G Parameshar

Unfortunately, what is happening is that on days like New Years, Brigade Road, Commercial Street, or MG road, a large number of youngsters gather. And youngsters were almost like westerners. They tried to copy the westerners, not only in their mindset but even in their dressing. So some disturbance, some girls are harassed, these kind of things do happen.

"In these modern times, the more skin women show, the more they are considered fashionable. If my sister or daughter stays out beyond sunset celebrating December 31 with a man who isn't their husband or brother, that's not right" Abu Azmi

Where there is blame, violence against women is furthered. Blaming youth, west, clothes, women, reveals a lack of taking ownership and responsibility. Instead our home minister says “ these kind of things do happen”. When violence is normalised, it is accepted. This is the problem.

Step By Step Guide For A Minister To Respond And Take A Proactive Approach What to say, do, think, feel when an incident on sexual and gender based violence is reported

Express Feeling And Connection : We are ‘disappointed’ / ‘angry’ / ‘distressed’/ and we understand how you feel.

Be proactive. Step In: We need to transform attitudes and environments that allow violence against women. We know that women face violence and sexual assault on a daily basis and we need to be better prepared on how to respond to them.

Express concern and intention: Freedom from fear is a basic right. We want want all women and every person to feel safe. We must tackle all factors in our environments that threaten a sense of security.We understand that such experiences can cause fear and anxiety in citizens. A city or place belongs to its people ( women, men, trans) and it is our responsibility to enable ownership and freedom.

Take A Step Towards Affirmative Action: We know that we need to create an environment in which people can go anywhere, anytime, any how without the weight of fear on their shoulders.

Taking Charge Instead of Denying or Dismissing :We are working to identify the perpetrators and prosecute them under the ambit of the law. We know that our responsibility does not end here. We will strive to tackle larger issues that produce such violence and work to ensure that this is not repeated.

Accept having failedand propose a plan: We know that we have failed our citizens here- in our response, in building safe spaces, and in creating environments conducive to their wellbeing. We pledge to strengthen our efforts to re-evaluate existing policies, mechanisms, and State apparatuses to identify the flaws and gaps that contributed to the collective trauma that we are experiencing. We will work to shift and implement these policies, and ensure that we fund and support initiatives that contribute to building safe, inclusive, free of violence, free from fear.